Sexuality

Though they tend to have sex less frequently than their slimmer peers, obese women may be four times more likely to have an unwanted pregnancy, according to findings published in BMJ this week. In a study of more than 12,000 French men and women between the ages of 18 to 69, researchers found that obese women were less likely than …

This Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hear from an expert panel about the merits of, flibanserin, a drug that has been touted as potentially being the female equivalent of Viagra. Yet, an initial FDA review posted online today already indicates that Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of flibanserin, …

After surviving a heart attack, it makes sense that people want to avoid any activity that could cause their ticker to falter again. Yet, as the Associated Press reports, according to new research presented this week at a conference of the American Heart Association in Washington, D.C., because of lack of information about their risk, …

Marie Stopes International, a sexual health group akin to the U.S.’s Planned Parenthood that provides abortions and other services at clinics throughout the U.K., has purchased a time slot for a 30-second commercial scheduled to air Monday night, the Telegraphreports. The ad — which does not mention the word abortion, but directs …

A new survey asks the question that many people quietly wonder: just how much sex do you have once you’re married? According the poll of more than 2,000 married women between the ages of 18 to 49, well, it depends.

At the request of an AIDS awareness organization, a condom manufacturer in Switzerland recently started selling smaller-sized prophylactics intended for use among 12- to 14-year-olds in an effort to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce sexually transmitted infections among an increasingly younger sexually active population.

Among the 78 research projects to receive $100,000 grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this week as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, is an effort by researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to develop a non-invasive, reversible form of birth control for men — using …

For cancer patients, sexual dysfunction is often a long-term side effect of treatment, and can have a significant impact on quality of life. To better understand long-term sexual dysfunction in cancer patients, and develop therapies tailored to their needs, researchers from Duke University argue that there is a “need for a flexible, …

Growing resistance to two leading antibiotic treatments could make the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea more difficult to treat, according to warnings from a British health official reported by the BBC. At a meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Edinburgh, Dr. Catherine Ison, a gonorrhea specialist from the U.K.’s …

According to a commentary published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), despite a slight overall decrease in head and neck cancers worldwide, there has been a recent surge in one particular form of the disease—oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma—that may be due to the spread of the human papillomavirus (HPV) through …

When the emergency contraception—or the morning-after pill—became available to adult women without prescription in the U.S. in 2006, it predictably whipped up a public health controversy. Some commentators said it would encourage unprotected sex and raise the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The Food and Drug …

Women who have taken the pill may live longer because they face less risk of heart disease and cancer, according to new study led by Dr. Philip Hannaford from Scotland’s University of Aberdeen. The study, published this week in the British Medical Journal, followed more than 46,000 female patients from 1,400 medical practices throughout …

The results of a new poll from the National Sleep Foundation, highlighted yesterday in the New York Times, reveal that roughly one in four Americans who are married or living with a romantic partner regularly feel too exhausted for sex. The survey, which included more than 1,000 randomly selected people ages 25 to 60, focused on sleep …